Bulls & Bears: Students give lessons on how to steal TV spotlight

In a weekend in which the NFL playoffs kicked off with four wild-card games last Saturday and Sunday, it was the amateurs — the so-called “student athletes” — who put on the best shows for television audiences on both sides of the 49th parallel.

Tom Mayenknecht

Updated: January 12, 2018

Jamar King of the Alabama Crimson Tide celebrates beating the Georgia Bulldogs in overtime to win the CFP National Championship presented by AT&T at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Jan. 8, 2018 in Atlanta, Ga. Alabama won 26-23.Mike Zarrilli / Getty Images

Bulls of the Week

In a weekend in which the NFL playoffs kicked off with four wild-card games last Saturday and Sunday, it was the amateurs — the so-called “student athletes” — who put on the best shows for television audiences on both sides of the 49th parallel.

The terrific sports weekend began with the final game of the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship. TSN and RDS won the night as Canada defeated Sweden to win the gold medal in a hugely entertaining and satisfying game that brought out the best in junior hockey from both countries.

It was a strong ending to a tournament that continued to serve as appointment holiday television, drawing more than 15 million Canadian viewers to the 31 games over 10 days. What’s more, Hockey Canada corporate partners such as Esso, RBC and Telus dominated despite the event being held in Buffalo: 18 of 21 primary TV rink boards were held by Canadian companies.

Three nights later, it was the remarkable College Football Playoff Championship, a 26-23 overtime win by the Alabama Crimson Tide over the Georgia Bulldogs. With an average U.S. audience of 28.4 million on ESPN, the college football finale outdrew three of the four NFL wild-card games and was the second-most watched event ever on American cable television (second only to the 33.9 million Americans who watched the 2015 college football final between Ohio State and Oregon, also on ESPN).

There was no question what represented the better return on investment in the telecasts for the World Juniors, college football championship and NFL wild-card games. The eight NFL teams playing wild-card weekend represented a total enterprise value of US$17.6 billion (with an average franchise valuation of $2.2 billion per team according to Forbes Magazine).

The total player salaries amounted to US$1.315 billion for the four NFL wild-card matchups. For the World Juniors and College Football final: Outside of some scholarship tuition, per diem expenses and professional development support, a big fat zero in the way of direct salaries.

Bears of the Week

The two-year decline in NFL television ratings — 8 per cent down in 2016 and another 9.7 per cent in 2017 — carried over from the regular season into the wild-card round of playoffs.

The average viewership decrease on wild-card weekend was in the order of 13 per cent, with each of the four games down by double digits. The glass half full perspective is that the NFL remains North America’s television juggernaut with greater audiences for wild-card games — even in this down cycle — than Major League Baseball gets for the World Series and the NBA draws for its finals.

New Orleans-Carolina drew an average national audience of 31.15 million on FOX, Jacksonville-Buffalo 25.3 million on CBS, Atlanta-Los Angeles 22.8 million on NBC and Tennessee-Kansas City 22.175 million (including video streaming) on ESPN.

The glass half-empty is that the NFL has lost one-fifth of its audience over two years of social politics and protests and rightsholders ESPN/ABC, NBC, FOX and CBS are projecting a combined shortfall of US$500 million in advertising revenues this season. That is new territory for the NFL, an industry that drives US$14 billion per year. You could even say it’s been Trumped.

The Sport Market on TSN 1040 rates and debates the bulls and bears of sport business. Join Tom Mayenknecht Saturday from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. for a behind-the-scenes look at the sport business stories that matter most to fans.

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